Waterfront Arts Fest A Big Draw For Region

Event Posts 6% Rise In Ticket Sales

June 02, 1999|By DAVID NICHOLSON Daily Press

NORFOLK — The monthlong Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival, which posted increased attendance and ticket sales in its third season ending May 9, is shaping into a significant tourism draw for Hampton Roads.

While a detailed economic impact study won't be ready until summer, preliminary figures show tickets purchased increased 6 percent, from $17,380 in the 1998 festival to $18,437 this year.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Wednesday, June 9, 1999.An article in the June 2 Business section about the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival incorrectly stated that ticket sales increased 6 percent, from $17,380 in the 1998 festival to $18,437 this year. The totals are the number of tickets purchased, not the dollar amount of sales. (The text of this document has been changed to reflect the correction.)

Festival director Robert Cross said these figures reflect only sales for those events directly produced by the festival. They do not include events the festival collaborated on with cities and arts organizations in the region, such as the "Art of Glass" exhibits or "The Phantom of the Opera" performances in Norfolk's Chrysler Hall. Those figures are not yet available.

Overall attendance figures are still being collected, but Cross predicts they will be higher than last year when 73,200 people attended the festival. One of the reasons for the projected increase is the thousands of people who attended the numerous "Art of Glass" exhibits held in museums throughout the region. There was no major visual arts component to the 1998 festival.

"Glass is one of those things in the art world that has a very distinct following, like ballet," says Michael Curry, director of the Hampton Arts Commission. Curry's commission co- sponsored one of the glass exhibits as well as a residency and performances by the Mystical Arts of Tibet music ensemble.

"We had hundreds of people every day," Curry said. "They were coming for the monks and for the glass exhibit."

Last year's economic impact survey reported that festival- goers added $5.6 million to the local economy.

This year's 16 sold-out events indicate to Cross that the festival is bringing in artists people want to see.

Some of the sold-out events, such as two guitar concerts by JoAnn Falletta at Norfolk's Sacred Heart Church and Hampton's First Baptist Church, were in small venues. Others were in larger locations. The Russian National Ballet, for example, did two performances at Norfolk State University's performing hall, which seats 1,700 people.

Other sold-out performances included the Boys Choir of Harlem in Portsmouth's Willett Hall, the Ballet Hispanico in the Virginia Beach Pavilion Theatre and the Daddy Spatz & Jive Swing concert at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. In Hampton, the two performances by the Tibetan monks also sold out.

Another indication of the festival's success, Cross said, is that eight Hampton Roads cities and counties provided money for the festival - from $4,000 from Gloucester County to more than $500,000 from various sources given by the city of Norfolk.

And though it is only 3 years old, the festival is becoming a major tourist attraction for Hampton Roads, said Martha Steger, director of public relations for the Virginia Division of Tourism.

"In its short history, the festival has moved from being a special event to becoming a full-fledged destination for people coming to the region," Steger said. She pointed out that 12 percent of those attending last year's festival came from out of state.

"This festival has been the most successful one of the three years," says Palmer Farley, chairman of Barker Campbell Farley & Mansfield, the Virginia Beach advertising agency that helped to promote the festival.

"If you look at our region and the things we are building on, the arts in the springtime represent one of our strengths," Farley said. "It brings in an upscale market, and corporate sponsors are looking for that."

Farley also pointed to a recent article in The New York Times in which writer R.W. Apple praised the growth of the arts in Hampton Roads.